"This Walt Simonson THOR cover has a great story behind it, one that I
heard at Mark Gruenwald’s memorial service. Mark was the editor on this
portion of Walter’s THOR run.

"So, this cover was ready to go to press, but Editor in Chief Jim
Shooter didn’t like the Thor face that Walt had drawn, and he demanded
that Gruenwald get a correction done. Mark believed that. if he brought
the situation to Walt, it would escalate, possibly resulting in Simonson
quitting the series.

"Mark also knew, however, that Jim was going to be out of town on
business the following week. So he came up with a plan. He had art
director John Romita draw a new face for Thor on a piece of adhesive
patch-paper. And then, once Shooter had left the building, Gruenwald
peeled off and discarded the patch. If Shooter came back with a
complaint, Mark intended to claim that the patch must have fallen off at
some point while the cover was in transit.

"Weeks later, the make-ready for this cover came in from the printer,
and Shooter called Gruenwald down to his office. Mark figured that he
was going to get it, and readied his defense. And then, Shooter held up
the cover as mark entered and said: “See? Doesn’t it look a lot better this way?”"

Disclaimer

All non-original images used on this site remain the property of their respective copyright holders, and are used promotionally with appreciation. If your images have appeared and you would like the way they are presented amended or even removed - simply leave me a comment.